[blparent] stranger contact with your child

[jan wright]

This is annoying, i'll admit. I was not jealous that they could see my
children's facial expressions and I couldn't.
It is annoying because it is the start of people communicating with
your baby or child without your knowledge and I would caution that you
do need to be a little careful.
Sometimes, people can take liberties with your child.
the thing that annoys me most in this stage is that people don't even
give you a respectful: "Oh,  you have a cute baby, do you mind?" They
just assume that you don't mind. Note: they do some of the same things
with my dog and it bothers me, also. I think that it is just
respectful to talk to the adult first. And, the more I think about it
the more i am convinced that it is just plain rude!
When my children were older, people would give them candy that I did
not want them to have; or toys to play with that were sometimes
inappropriate. They would try to comfort or quiet your child and
sometimes they were doing much more harm than good.
 I hate to be the web blanket in this discussion: but, these are the
same adults who would rather talk to your child or your dog before
having a conversation with you. I always found it strange that after I
got my dog (and my children were teens) I experienced the same
reaction from people. They would say to my children: "You are so
sweet," "You are such a good baby," (and much more annoying comments).
And, now that I have the dog, they want to talk to the dog: "You are
such a good boy." GRRRR! And, I know that I am going to experience
more of the same when I have my baby boy (seven more weeks until the
due date).
it is strange, though. It is harder to ward off unwanted behaviors
from the sighted public and also harder to connect with them when we
want to. UGGG.